


Cool Down

by renecdote



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Nightwing (Comics)
Genre: Cathartic bath, Gen, Hot Weather, R&R
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-22
Updated: 2017-10-22
Packaged: 2019-01-21 04:17:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12449517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/renecdote/pseuds/renecdote
Summary: It’s hot; Dick takes a bath.





	Cool Down

**Author's Note:**

> Another short one. For a whumptober prompt on tumblr: As tempting as sensory deprivation is, that might be a little too mean to put Dick through, so let's go with Dick and a cathartic bath or shower, please :)

The sweat trickling down the back of his neck has long since become uncomfortable, his suit stifling and sticky against his back. Against everywhere, actually. It’s enough to make Dick wish for Mr Freeze to escape Arkham, or for a case near the docs against a villain of quality who may throw him into the murky waters. Anything to get relief from the sweltering, humid heat of Gotham in the height of a summer night.

He used to be made of stronger stuff he’s sure. Summer nights in the big top were always hot and stuffy, but he’s sure it never got to him the way Gotham’s oppressive heat does. He’d still flip and fly with a grin on his face. The sweat would be a reminder of the thrill of aerial work, the discomfort of the tight outfit almost unnoticeable in the face of the clapping and cheering from the crowd.

Now his mouth is set in a grin line, the sweat is irritating, and the discomfort is a niggling distraction even when he’s in the thick of a fight. It’s a recipe for a very unhappy Nightwing. A very unhappy Nightwing whose reflexes and determination are drooping the longer he spends running across rooftops and fighting crime.

A little after one a thug gets in a lucky shot and bloodies his nose. It’s at this point that Dick decides to give up and go home. Well, not quite home; the Wayne penthouse is closest to his location and he has no energy to trek to one of his own apartments. The elevator doors are hardly shut behind him before he’s stripping out of the suit and thanking every deity he can think of for modern air conditioning. It’s a relief, but not enough, not chasing away the clinging heat fast enough. What he really needs is a dip in a pool… Or, he thinks with a smile, a soak in one of the gloriously large bathtubs billionaires always seem to have in their penthouses.

He showers first, quickly and efficiently, to rinse off all the sweat, dirt and blood (as well as several other substances he’d rather not identify). By the time he’s clean, the the bath is half-full and he sinks gratefully into the water. It’s cool but not freezing, as much as he’d been tempted to dump a few bags of ice cubes in it, because he’d actually paid attention to most of his biology lessons. Cold outside equals hot inside. Or something like that.

Finally no longer melting, Dick relaxes in the tub. His arms feel weightless, suspended beside his body, hands pulled to the surface by natural buoyancy. It’s not quite flying, but it’s a sense of weightlessness he welcomes gratefully. He tips his head back and closes his eyes, inhaling the faint citrus aroma of whatever cleaner was last used in the bathroom.

Lying there submerged into the cool water, it doesn’t take long for his thoughts to drift. Moaning about the weather and cataloguing all his new aches and pains take a backseat to wondering how everyone else is surviving the heat. Bruce is most likely still out on patrol because he doesn’t know when to quit, but he probably sent Damian home before midnight. Maybe Dick will stop by the Manor tomorrow and take his little brother out for ice cream if the impending storm hasn’t rolled in and relieved the heat by then. Bruce might even come if he asks nicely enough, and they could probably drag Tim along as well, make it a sort of family outing. It’d be nice if Jason and Cass were around too, then they could invite Steph over and have a proper bat-style water fight with even teams, but they’re fighting the good fight out of the country at the moment. Probably somewhere cooler than Gotham. Lucky them.

Dick bends his knees slightly so he can slide his shoulders down until his face is under the water. The cool liquid curls around him, like a soothing bubble, or a weird hug without all the body heat that just feels gross in hot weather. It tugs at his hair and laps against his skin when he lifts his head back up for air. This time the liquid trickling down his neck and between his shoulder blades is pleasant rather than uncomfortable. And he’s suddenly glad Me Freeze didn’t escape Arkham because if he had, Nightwing would have had to stay out on the streets longer, and then Dick would have had to suffer through the heat even longer before enjoying a nice cool bath.


End file.
